1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system in particular to a method and apparatus for manipulating data in a data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for displaying a cursor on a display in a data processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The manipulation of data in a data processing system is well known in the prior art. Data may be manipulated in many ways in a modern state-of-the-art data processing system including: data accessing, data encoding, data communications, data compression, data conversion, data entry, data exchange, data filing, data linking, data locking, data manipulation, data mapping, data modeling, data processing, data recording, data sorting, and data transferring. The large amounts of data that are available to the user of modern state-of-the-art data processing system often become overwhelming in magnitude and complexity. These situations may often arise in the creation and execution of multimedia presentations.
Data processing systems are capable of communicating information to users in many formats, including: text, graphics, sounds, animated graphics, synthesized speech, and video. Multimedia presentations employ a data processing system to combine such information formats into a coherent and comprehensive presentation to the user.
As is known in the art, a cursor on a computer screen can be used to input commands into a computer. The cursor contains a hot spot that indicates the location of the cursor itself. A user can input commands to move the cursor on the screen, thus moving the hot spot, by using keyboard arrow keys or a pointing device such as a mouse or trackball. The term "mouse," when used in this document, refers to any type of operating system supported graphical pointing device including, but not limited to: a mouse, track ball, touch pad, light pin, touch screen, and the like. A pointing device is typically employed by a user of the data processing system to interact with the data processing system's GUI. A "pointer", also called a "cursor", is an iconic image controlled by a mouse or other such device, and is displayed on the video display device of a data processing system to visually indicate to the user icons, menus, or other types of graphical objects that may be selected or manipulated.
By moving the cursor and placing the hot spot on a particular portion of the screen, commands can be entered into the computer. For example, a computer may have a software program which includes pull-down menus. By placing the hot spot of the cursor on a pull-down menu and actuating or "clicking" a switch or button, a menu is displayed on the screen from which a user may enter commands. Similarly, by placing the hot spot of the cursor on an icon, file name, menu selection, or other object on the screen and clicking the button, a command can be entered to open or act upon a file or application program that is represented by the icon, file name, menu selection or other object. This method of command selection is commonly known as "point and click", and is commonly performed using computer pointing devices such as mice or trackballs. Overall, the point and click method of command selection allows users to more easily operate computers.
A user, however, may have difficulty locating the cursor on certain computer screens. For example, high resolution cathode ray tube ("CRT") type screens are able to display a great amount of visual data or detail. The cursor may be difficult to visually locate on high resolution CRT screens because the cursor may be lost among various other objects concurrently displayed, particularly when the cursor is stationary on the screen. Additionally, many portable computers use liquid crystal type displays ("LCD") because LCDs are small, lightweight, and use little power. LCDs, however, have a slow response time between a user's input and a visual feedback to the user on the screen indicating movement of the cursor. Low lighting or insufficient screen contrast on LCDs make it difficult to locate the cursor on these screens. Furthermore, as the size of the computer screens grow, a user's ability to rapidly locate the cursor on the screen, without moving the cursor, becomes more difficult.
Additionally, cursors typically have a "hot spot" that marks the exact screen location that is affected by a mouse action. With currently available cursors, however, such as an arrow, it is often difficult for a user to determine where the "hot spot" is located. As a result, a user may have to employ multiple "clicks" or actuations of a button on the mouse in order to cause the desired action on the display screen.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for displaying a cursor within a data processing system. It is also would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for drawing a user's attention to a hot spot of a cursor.